Osseo School District Plans New School, Expansion in Maple Grove
With the population in Maple Grove on the rise, the Osseo Area School District is moving ahead with plans to build a new elementary school and expand Maple Grove Senior High.
According to John Morstad, executive director of finance and operations at Osseo Area Schools, the high school is already about 300 students beyond its original capacity.
Meanwhile, development continues to bring new residents to the city.
“Our current estimates are showing at least 5,700 new housing units in the next five years in this northwest Maple Grove area,” Morstad said. “That will contribute at least 1,000 new students for us.”
Maple Grove Senior High School Expansion
To make room for new students at the high school, the district is planning for a substantial expansion.
“So this building is looking at about a $57 million improvement,” Morstad said. “A combination of additions and renovations. The cafeteria here is roughly half the size of what it needs to be. So we’ll be doing a big cafeteria expansion.”
Classroom space and locker rooms are also slated for expansion.
Another remodel is planned for the school’s library.
“The media center will be completely opened up and redone, just to kind of bring in a modern feel, and make it much more of the hub of the building than it is today,” Morstad said.
After the expansion, the school’s capacity will increase from 2,185 students to 2,730.
Construction starts in spring 2025 and continues into 2027.
Osseo Area Schools is moving ahead with construction plans for a new elementary school in northwest Maple Grove.
New Maple Grove Elementary School
The Osseo district’s Maple Grove-area elementary schools are reaching capacity, according to Morstad.
As a result, the district is planning to build an entirely new elementary school in the northwest portion of the city.
“So we own a piece of property up near the Hindu temple,” Morstad said. “It’s about 34-acres, and we are planning for an elementary of a little over a thousand students.”
Plans for the $60 million, two-story school remain in the design phase.
“We’re excited — we haven’t built a new school in this district in almost 25 years,” Morstad said. “So we’re overdue and ready.”
Rather than standard classroom spaces, this two-story elementary school will utilize a “learning studio” concept.
“So each class has its own studio that has five or six classrooms and all the support spaces needed within the studio,” Morstad said. “Those wrap around the media center as the central hub. So there’s three on the main floor and three up above it.”
Construction on the new school starts early in 2025 and runs through summer 2026.
Financing for Osseo School Projects
Voters approved a $223 million referendum for school improvements across the Osseo Area School District in November of 2023.
That funding will be used to construct the new elementary school and expansion plans.
It will also be used to construct an outdoor classroom space at any school that doesn’t already one.
District wide, classrooms will be getting new furniture and media centers will be updated.
“We’re trying to get to a much more modernized, next generation learning environment,” Morstad said.
The reconstruction is part of the district’s “Building a Better Future” plan. Updates to construction plans and projects are available here.
Other Osseo Area School District Pending Projects
Morstad said there’s other district projects coming soon.
“What the school board ultimately approved is 66 different construction projects,” Morstad said. “We’ve already got the first two teed up in Brooklyn Middle School and North View Middle School [in Brooklyn Park]. That will start this summer. Brooklyn Middle School is a two-year project so that will take a little longer. But by next fall, North View Middle School will be renovated to what we want it to be.”
Maple Grove Senior High School
